In light of the injury to goaltender Peter Budaj, the Tampa Bay Lightning has recalled Louis Domingue from the Syracuse Crunch.
The Tampa Bay Lightning received a bit of bad news yesterday evening. It was announced Lightning goaltender Peter Budaj, who left the game halfway through the third period on Friday night against the Philadelphia Flyers, has been placed on Injured Reserve.
This means Budaj will be unable to take the ice with the Lightning for at least seven days. In other words, in the best case scenario, Budaj will be unable to return to the ice until either January 6 against the Ottawa Senators or January 7 against the Detroit Red Wings. Again, this is in the best case scenario.
Obviously, Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy cannot be left to hold down the fort by himself; especially with such a long road trip in the Lightning’s very near future. This means some important decisions had to be made. Yesterday evening, the Lightning recalled goaltender Louis Domingue from the Syracuse Crunch.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Louis Domingue is fairly new to the Tampa Bay Lightning organization. Domingue was traded to the Lightning by the Arizona Coyotes on November 14 in exchange for goaltender Michael Leighton and forward Tye McGinn. Since then, Domingue has been tearing it up between the pipes for the Crunch.
Domingue has played in 13 games with the Syracuse Crunch this season. In this amount of time, Domingue has earned a 9-4-0 record with a Goals Allowed Average of 2.39 and a Save Percentage of .911. These numbers give Domingue 11th place in the American Hockey League in Goals Against Average.
This is not Louis Domingue’s first time on NHL ice. Domingue debuted for the Arizona Coyotes in the 2014-15 season where he would play seven games. After spending two full seasons with the Coyotes, Domingue would make his way to the Bolts Nation after just seven games in the 2017-18 season.
It is unknown at this time how much time Domingue will need to spend here in the Sunshine State. Given Budaj’s injured reserve status, he will most certainly be here at least seven games. Needless to say, with the Lightning embarking on a five-game road trip, Vasilevskiy will need a solid goaltender to back him up.
Next: Peter Budaj Placed On Injured Reserve
Hopefully, Louis Domingue will be exactly what the Tampa Bay Lightning needs while Peter Budaj recovers from his leg injury from Friday night’s game against the Flyers. His journey begins later tonight as the Lightning take on the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in Columbus